Flexible hoses are well known and widely used in a variety of industries, including health, general industrial, semiconductor, food and beverage, transportation and specialty products, laboratory and pharmaceutics. The health and medical industries, in particular, rely heavily on flexible hoses and their associated hose clamps for various applications, such as enteral feeding, cardiopulmonary bypass, urinary and cardiovascular catheterization, intravenous drug and fluid administration, and the like.
Indeed, the delivery of medicines and fluids to a patient is one of the most important uses of flexible hoses and their associated clamps. Such delivery typically requires an intravenous feed line to communicate therapeutic liquid from a fluid reservoir (such as bottle or bag) to a hollow needle via a flexible hose. The hollow needle is then inserted into a part of the patient's body (i.e., vein) for delivery of the therapeutic liquid to the patient.
Hose clamps are typically used with flexible hoses to allow the hose to be partially or completely compressed and control (or terminate) the flow of the fluid in the hose. The hose clamp can also be used to facilitate removal or insertion of an intravenous feed line. Such hose clamps and their uses are known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,056, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Identifying markers are also typically known and used in the art. Identifying markers are capable of identifying a drug or other fluid treatment administered through a hose. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,246, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Existing identifying markers, however, are seldom used in connection with a hose clamp as it is often desirable to change the treatment or a specific characteristic of the treatment, such as priming volume, without changing or disconnecting the hose through which it is administered. As existing identification markers require that the hose be threaded through the marker to properly retain the marker in position, it is virtually impossible to independently remove or replace the marker without disrupting continuity of treatment.
Other problems are also present with existing identification markers. First, existing markers only loosely fit to the hose clamp, which may result in undesired marker movement. Second, because current markers do not closely match the contours of the hose clamp, corners and edges of the marker may protrude from the clamp body. This is particularly problematic where the hose clamp is closely proximate the patient's skin. Indeed, movement of the marker may gouge or otherwise discomfort the patient. Any corners or edges protruding from the marker only aggravate this problem.